President’s further delay achieves little

To the disappointment of many immigrant advocates, that was President Obama's message for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson last week. The president instructed Johnson to hold off on releasing the recommendations from his review of deportation policies until the end of the summer.

"We've got this narrow window," the president explained at a meeting of law enforcement officials. "The closer we get to the midterm elections, the harder it is to get things done around here. … So we've got maybe a window of two, three months to get the ball rolling in the House of Representatives."

President Obama, that ball is flat. Immigration reform is dying a slow death, and waiting for House Republicans to act is a futile, pointless gesture. Not only is the GOP as opposed to immigration reform as ever, delaying executive action will only inflict further pain on immigrant communities.

The idea that the president is willing to allow House Republicans more time to get their own immigration bill together sounds good in theory. In reality, the odds of this happening are slim to none. The Senate "Gang of 8" immigration bill was passed in 42 days, a time frame that House Republicans said was too fast and did not allow enough time for debate. By comparison, the current legislative calendar gives House Republicans only about a month to write, introduce, and vote on their own immigration measure – and that assumes they are interested in crafting an immigration measure.

In fact, House Republicans are moving backwards on immigration. In 2010, they passed the Dream Act, a bill to give citizenship to young people brought here illegally as children, provided they went to college or served in the military (the bill later died in the Senate). This year, Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., has been unable to move the ENLIST Act forward. It would put young undocumented immigrants on a path to citizenship if they served in the military. It is "less than" the Dream Act, and it can't even get a vote. No wonder the New York Times editorial board noted, "There is something ridiculous about the president's fear of halting a legislative process that has been motionless for nearly a year."